[Bug 56935] New: Softube VST plugins are not drawing their UI

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56935

Bug ID: 56935
           Summary: Softube VST plugins are not drawing their UI
           Product: Wine
           Version: 9.12
          Hardware: x86-64
               URL: https://www.softube.com/
                OS: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: dwmapi
          Assignee: [e-mail]
          Reporter: [e-mail]
                CC: [e-mail]
   Regression SHA1: f397807415b4807aeabac7243a13a15599008ee7
      Distribution: ---

The plugin UI never updates, it's window is cleared with black on startup and
then it just shows the remains of anything that was ever drawn over it, like
unrelated windows. With the commit is reverted everything redraws normally.

Softube provides a free plugin that reproduces the issue ("Saturation Knob"),
but sadly it's not very straightforward to set it up. First you need some DAW
software what can run windows VST plugins through wine, like lmms. Then Softube
doesn't provide it's plugins directly but insists on installing them through
their bloated downloader, which then insists to install several licensing
services. I could not get it to work through wine and used a windows vm for
that part. Once you get the plugin dll however everything works through wine,
including "activation" (even for a free plugin) except that the UI is not
updating.

[Bug 56935] Softube VST plugins are not drawing their UI

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56935

Gijs Vermeulen  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
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           Keywords|                            |regression

[Bug 56935] Softube VST plugins are not drawing their UI

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56935

[e-mail] changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
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                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

[Bug 56935] Softube VST plugins are not drawing their UI

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56935

--- Comment #1 from Jactry Zeng  ---
Could you submit a +dwmapi,+loaddll log? Thanks.

[Bug 56935] Softube VST plugins are not drawing their UI

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56935

--- Comment #2 from [e-mail] ---
(In reply to Jactry Zeng from comment #1)
> Could you submit a +dwmapi,+loaddll log? Thanks.

Thanks. I'm happy to do this, but I'm not sure how to use those flags. Are
there any instructions for getting the right log?

[Bug 56935] Softube VST plugins are not drawing their UI

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56935

--- Comment #3 from Grazvydas Ignotas  ---
Created attachment 77661
  --> https://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=77661
+dwmapi,+loaddll log

[Bug 56935] Softube VST plugins are not drawing their UI

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56935

--- Comment #4 from Grazvydas Ignotas  ---
I was able to figure out the cause and have already sent a patch for this, but
it was ignored:
https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/merge_requests/6006

matt: just set WINEDEBUG=+dwmapi,+loaddll environment variable for the log.
Also ignore "Remote plugin crashed" in the log, lmms alwas does that for me on
exit.

[Bug 56935] Softube VST plugins are not drawing their UI

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56935

--- Comment #5 from Jactry Zeng  ---
(In reply to Grazvydas Ignotas from comment #4)
> I was able to figure out the cause and have already sent a patch for this,
> but it was ignored:
> https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/merge_requests/6006
>
> matt: just set WINEDEBUG=+dwmapi,+loaddll environment variable for the log.
> Also ignore "Remote plugin crashed" in the log, lmms alwas does that for me
> on exit.

Thanks for the information!
So the application needs DwmFlush() to be implemented or at least improve the
current stub.
I read through the conversation in MR! 6006, looks like DwmFlush() isn't a
thing we can really implement before implementing DWM compositor behaving[1].
Paul also has a patch for improving the stub in
https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/merge_requests/2463, if that one also
works for a real-world application (e.g. Softube VST plugins), perhaps we can
try to get that one upstream?

[1] https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/merge_requests/6006#note_75514

[Bug 56935] Softube VST plugins are not drawing their UI

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56935

--- Comment #6 from Grazvydas Ignotas  ---
(In reply to Jactry Zeng from comment #5)
> Paul also has a patch for improving the stub in
> https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/merge_requests/2463, if that one also
> works for a real-world application (e.g. Softube VST plugins), perhaps we
> can try to get that one upstream?

Yes it works, when I sent my patch I simply wasn't aware of his work.